Where Are Indians Travelling: The Numbers Story
Annual inbound and outbound tourism figures for 2025 reveal contradictory patterns—both growth and decline—in different segments, even as domestic tourism continues to surge.
By Suman Tarafdar
Indians are travelling as never before
For the first time ever, more than 3.2 million Indians travelled abroad in 2025. The final figures for domestic tourism are provisional; it is expected to top the 2024 figures of 2,948.19 million domestic tourist visits.
In 2023–24, the travel and tourism sector in India generated approximately 84.63 million jobs (including both direct and indirect employment). During the same period, the sector’s total contribution to India’s GDP stood at ₹15.73 lakh crore, translating to 5.22%, reflecting its significant role in the national economy.
Before COVID-19 impacted the world, Indian tourism had been rising rapidly on the back of double-digit growth in inbound numbers, better transport connectivity across roadways, civil aviation, and railways. Growing disposable incomes, notably from both metropolitan areas and smaller towns, expanded the geographies that businesses in the sector began tapping into. Social media raised aspirations, and domestic destinations—old and new—had a greater pull factor.
COVID-19 did put a temporary spanner in the works, but it was followed by an era of ‘revenge travel’ and the country, well, its residents haven’t looked back. Both public and private sectors are investing record amounts in the sector, and this is already showing results.
Domestic travel has grown, with the federal government’s initiatives such as ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Swadesh Darshan 2.0’ seeing the implementation of over a hundred projects across socio-cultural themes, largely aimed at the domestic tourist. The Sustainable and Responsible Tourism (SASCI) initiative has funded 40 projects across 23 states, helping to bring awareness about the need for sustainable tourism. Medical tourism, both domestic and inbound, has seen a spurt, especially in the southern states.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, India saw 2,948.19 million domestic tourist visits in 2024, marking a 17.51% increase over 2508.82 million visits in 2023.
Taj Mahal unsurprisingly was the most popular destination, with visitor numbers for both domestic (6.26 million) and foreign (0.645 million) tourists in FY 2024-25. Other popular sites for domestic visitors include the Sun Temple, Konark (3.57 million) and Qutub Minar (3.20 million).
Outbound travel is rapidly increasing too, with a record number of 32.71 million Indians travelling across the world. Indians are travelling for pleasure and work, often combining the two. The top destinations remain the usual suspects—the Persian Gulf region, the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and Thailand. There is a continuing slowdown for erstwhile destinations such as Europe, where lengthy visa delivery times have caused Indians to look elsewhere.
Thailand welcomed 2.48 million Indian tourists in 2025, an increase of 16% from 2024, while Vietnam saw a staggering 49% increase over the same period, as about 0.75 million travellers travelled to the country in the same period. Central Asian and Caucasian nations also witnessed record numbers of Indian travellers.
Indians travelling abroad has risen from a mere 1.94 million departures in 1991 to 26.92 million in 2019, and then again a spurt from 2023, reaching record numbers in 2025.
In 2024, leisure was the predominant reason for Indians travelling abroad, with 42.52% travellers reporting it as their reason for travel. VFR to the Indian diaspora came in next at 34.69%. Business travel accounted for 14.92% of total departures, while pilgrimage (3.99%) and education (2.45%) were ranked next.
Inbound tourism, however, has not recovered, with 2025 recording fewer numbers (9 million), reporting not just annual numbers below 2019 (10.9 million, incidentally India’s best year ever), but also below 2024 (9.9 million) and even 2023 (9.2 million). The decline in the number of arrivals from Bangladesh from the middle of 2024 has, of course, impacted numbers, and data and opinions remain ambivalent over the resultant impact. The decline is despite India hosting a number of high-profile events such as the G20 summit and several concerts by global musicians, which led to remarkable spurts in hotel ARRs in host cities.
India accounted for 1.4% of total international arrivals in 2024, contributing 2.02% to worldwide tourism receipts. By comparison, global tourism in 2025 increased, with international arrivals estimated to reach 1.52 billion, marking a 4% growth over 2024 and exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
In global tourism rankings published by the World Economic Forum in their biennial Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024, India has been placed at the 39th position, reflecting the sector’s post-pandemic recovery.
Even as business-related inbound travel has been growing in recent years, FTA numbers indicate that most travel is for leisure, accounting for 45% of visits. Visits by the Indian Diaspora (OCI) formed the second largest segment at 28.49%, reflecting enduring personal and familial ties. Business travel contributed another 10.52%, while medical tourism accounted for 6.48% of total arrivals.
In the past year, just two airports, Delhi and Mumbai, have handled 57.2% of all air FTAs, underscoring their crucial role. However, this also highlights the need for greater distribution of air connectivity.
A significant plus for India was the average length of stay by international travellers in 2024—18.12 days, spread across an average of four destinations. For a major part of the world, India is considered a ‘long-haul’ once-in-a-lifetime destination, and visitors seem to want different aspects of the country. The number for the US stood at 23.8 days, for Australia at 23.9 days, and for Canada at 30.9.
